Friday bike

Hero Splendor Pro Classic

Who says cafe racers have to be big? Indian company Hero has introduced the 97cc Splendor Pro Classic, a small cafe racer based on one of their long running bikes.

Interesting thing is the price:

53,900 rupees = £565 = 779 Euros = US$874 - why can't we buy bikes that cheaply?

You could tour on this single

Ex German Police Skorpion on German Ebay.

Cool fairing

Lots of buttons and switches!

Bike stuff in Lidl

Lidl branches in the UK will have some bike stuff from March 2nd. In the past I've found quality can be variable - some of it is good and some of it is rubbish. Always worth a look.

Lidl's latest leaflet, bike stuff on pages 40 - 43. Link

Friday bike update

On Friday I featured the Rieju Tango 250. I hadn't actually seen one, but thought it was an interesting looking bike. When I searched the Web for information I found a mention that the engine was made by Chinese firm Loncin. However, I have since found mention that the engines are built by Yamaha. I found this bike on Ebay.

In the listing it mentions it having a 'Yamaha sourced engine', and being 'not Chinese'. It also mentions that it is very similar to the Japan only Yamaha Tricker.

You can see the similarity! So, I'm not sure what engine the Tango has, it could be a Yamaha or a Loncin 'clone', or a Yamaha engine built in the Loncin factory (a number of manufacturers have their engines built in China, Loncin build the BMW F650 and possibly others).

More details of the Yamaha Tricker.

Looking for a small tourer?

Friday bike

Just for a change - one you can actually buy!

Rieju Tango 250

Interesting looking bike from Spanish firm Rieju. Using a Chinese built Loncin 4 stroke single cylinder engine producing 16 bhp, the Tango is probably more suited to city commuting or mild off road use. Despite my local dealer including a single pannier on the right hand side, I think the 6.3 litre fuel tank would limit its touring ability!

You get the option of wire spoked 'off road' wheels or cast 'supermoto' ones.

Price in UK: £3,299 = US$5,079 = 4,457 Euros.

Lots of downloads on UK importer's website.

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UPDATE

The Tango might have a Yamaha engine - see update.

Friday bike update, update, update, update................

A number of times last year I posted about the Zongshen RX3, marketed in various countries badged as Honley, M1NSK, CSC, and no doubt others. Found a blog written by an American rider travelling through China and beyond on one of them. I haven't had time to read much of it, but if anything has gone wrong with the bike, it'll be reported there. Last post on his blog was in August last year when he was on Day 38, let's hope his silence since isn't due to some catastrophe!

Kelley's Silk Road Ride

Motorcycling books

We just don't get books like these any more!

Friday bike

Parilla Slughi

Know very little about this one other than it was built in the late 50s/early 60s by Italian firm Parilla and was fitted with a 98cc 4 stroke or a 114cc 2 stroke engine. Love that styling!

Friday bike

Here's another pre-WW2 Soviet bike.

TIZ-AM600

A 600cc single, this time copied from a BSA design.

Friday bike

Here's another rarity for you.

PMZ-A-750 (ПМЗ А-750)

 Not much information on the Web, but the PMZ-A-750 was the first Soviet built 'heavy bike', manufactured from 1934 onwards. It was one of a number of bikes used by the Soviet Army in the pre-WW2 era before they settled on the BMW derived designs.

More than a passing US influence! Love the swoopy pressed steel frame, and I just can't work out how the front suspension works.

Period photo

You could even get a model kit of it.

Stolen from here.

 

Weight: 210 Kg

Motorcycle kind: heavy

Kind of the engine and its volume: 2 cylinders, 746 cm³

Engine power: 14 h.p.

Maximum speed: 90 km/h

In 1930 the group of designers of Scientific Autotractor Institute (SATI) started creation of the first Soviet heavy motorcycle. Pyotr Vladimirovich Mozharog — the known Soviet engineer, the founder of one of first domestically produced motorcycles Izh-1 headed designers collective. The experience received by Mozharog after training in Germany at a factory of BMW allowed to develop in short terms the necessary complete set of drawings and other engineering specifications. Simultaneously in Izhevsk construction of the motorcycle factory — giant with productivity of 120000 motorcycles in one year started. May, first, 1933 in shops of the constructed Experimental motorcycle factory four first motorcycle SATI A-750 were framed. Because of some technological reasons manufacture of SATI was transferred to Podolsk Mechanical Factory. First industrial batch of PMZ-A-750 in July, 1934 was examined by people's commissar of heavy industry Sergo Ordzhonikidze.
PMZ-A-750 was used not only in army, in parts of People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, but also on civil service. It actively used both in city, and on village (for example, for transportation of mail) and even acted in film. People of the senior generation certainly know film of 1939 «Tractorists». In film the main heroine whom Marina Ladynina played valiantly steered with motorcycle PMZ.

Lots of photos of one being restored (Russian text): here.

It's business time (part 2)

Now have single spotlight kits listed on Ebay.

Also have a couple of old but unused MZRC badges for sale.

Round

Rectangular